Diesel Engine Fault codes.

[gordonaldson]

I was lately assessing the red fault lights that came up on my car saying stop etc.. Of course the car maintenance book only says, do not drive any further seek assistance from in my case Renault..

Well it drove home a further 50 miles with no probs but still with stop lights up, but not an oil light I may say as in oil pressure.

OK I'm a bad boy as some of you's may say, but I know the limitations of my engine.

As to my checks on getting home :- I had just renewed the turbo just 900 miles ago so it had to be checked and found it spinning OK. TDC prob was clean. EGR was still clean as from turbo job but no way of testing "IF IT WORKED".

Now folks you maybe wondering where I'm getting too ?? Well I bet a few of you's out there recognise the words fault lights, stop, oil light, battery, etc !!

How many of you had a failure with these lights up. A failure as in our long travels in our motorhome, a long, long way from home. Ah the dred you are saying to yourselves. Don't screem to loud you'll wake the kids.

Just the other week on this forum a Mr mmm mentioned about black smoke now and again. Could this have been assessed, well yes, truely.

Who out there carry a Laptop when away in their vans, sorry bad word, Motorhome, whether its called betty, willie, tam, OK I'll shut up.

Right, I have got nothing to do with any of the firms, I just found their ways of addressing Engine faults interesting after trying to find out about the codes in my car. This is what the garages us BUT in bigger machines.

The word is FAULT CODE READER. Meaning if you had a hand held machine that you could plug into your engines brain it would tell you what was up.

I found Readers from £17 for my car, had to be ordered from Hong Kong though.

But the one that interested me though was the box of tricks that is wired up between your Laptop and Engine brain socket, using USB interface.

Go to www.myscantool.com. Graphs come up on your Laptop etc. Its called a ProScan OBD 11 Scan Tool.

Determines the cause of an "Engine Check Light", instantly.

Resets Check Lights.

Performs own Emission Test, thats what it says !!

Monitors Plots and Logs Sensors.

Even Generates Dyno Charts. Watch your son doesn't know about it ??

All the above with free upgrades. From $149.99, how about a Christmas Present, I want one..

Now I've been more looking at Diesel car types but all Diesels after 2004 should be OBD 11 compatible.

For the Fiat Diesels I'm still lookig into it. They have the requirement, the engine management system and the socket.

 

Hope the above GIVES some IDEA'S.

Gordon..

 

PS. Christmas Pressy "GIRLS".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Basil]

Hi G,

 

Unfortunately as this is a US site the information is only correct for US OBDII vehicles from 1996. It may work with some European vehicles from that year but there is no guarantee, OBDII was only international from, If I remember correctly, 2001/2, also it only has OBDII and does not appear to have CAN facility so will be obsolete on many Euro or Japaneses cars from 2006.

I purchased an OBDII/ CAN reader from a US dealer who assured me that it worked with any vehicle that was OBDII compliant but I find that it only works on certain vehicles from 1996 and not others, although it does appear to work on those after 2002.

 

I would be wary about buying anything of this nature unless it specifically states European standards, they are different. That is my findings anyway.

 

Bas

[gordonaldson]

Good one Basil,

 

Yes I was going to add other factors but was waiting to see if anyone had answered my thread. There does seem to be a lack of interest in Motorhomers wanting to find out how their van in functioning, whether it be of no interest to them, leave the mechanics to the "Garage" or not understanding what I'm saying.

But I was talking to the owner of my garage this morning and he mentioned the word "PROTOCOL". Which ment all car or van engines are not complient. So if you had a nice code reader or tool if may be able to read one cars ECU/BRAIN but not anothers.

But when we talk Motorhomes in this country we say Fiat, Merc, Peugeot and Renault. Not a big group we say compared to Cars.

Of course if you did want to go ahead and buy a reader or tool you would want a definate assurance that it would read your vans ECU. This is the worry to all people including me. Unless of course it said on the box Fiat 2.8jtd 2002 - 2007, but that would never happen in the electronic world.

This thread I think is doomed to the waste bin I'm thinking, but I'm still looking into it.

 

Nice to know you's all,

Gordon.

 

[Dave Newell]

FWIW I have looked into these ECU scanners before, several times and always found it to be a minefield trying to work out whether the particular equipment I'm looking at will cover the necessary vehicles. The only one I know of that really does cover pretty much everything is the Snap On scanner for which you buy separate programme chips for the different vehicles you might need to deal with. Downside is its bloody expensive at around £750 for the scanner and goodness knows how much for the various chips.

 

D.

[Basil]

Hi,

 

The one I have does cover all vehicles after the OBDII standard was standardised world wide i.e. after (2001/2) and is also CAN compatable it is a very good tool and was comparitively inexpensive (around $129 US), it was tax, import duty free but had p.p added cost around £80 after conversions, this type of equipment is so much cheaper and more readily available over there.

It needs no other chips or additions and will read any OBDII/CAN after 2001/2 and many before as it contains all the required protocols. However where it was stated any vehicle after 1996 that is only correct for US and vehicles imported to the US. It not only reads the codes but gives the actual problem, you can also carry out drive cycles with it and can reset lights and anything held in the computer e.g. milage etc..

I have so far used it on an 'S' reg Ford Focus where it showed and analysed the DTC's showing codes that pointed to coil pack failure and on a Jaguar (02) MY where it gave full CAN bus information and pointed to ABS sensor problem which turned out to be moisture in the wheel sensor connection, this alone saved more than the purchase price as Jaguar main dealers charge £79.99 just to connect it to the computer and give you the DTC's.

If you are interested it is an Innova 3110 CanOBD2 Tool but I can only guarantee it works on what I have tried it on.

 

Bas

[davenewellhome]

Thanks Bas, I'll make a note of that and look into it.

 

D.